Small business development center partners with Score

More informationWant to know more about the University of Houston-Victoria Small Business Development Center or Score? Call 361-575-8944, visit http://sbdc.uhv.edu or go by the office at 3402 N. Ben Wilson St.

Change is coming for the University of Houston-Victoria Small Business Development Center.

The center recently teamed up with Score, a small-business counseling service of Corpus Christi. Joe Harper, the development center's director, announced the change during Tuesday's Victoria Partnership meeting.

Score will handle pre-venture cases, those where prospective entrepreneurs are considering opening a business, and get them to the new venture phase, Harper said. The development center shifted its focus to handling new venture and growth venture cases.

Bruce Bassett-Powell, a Score counselor who recently set up shop inside the development center's office, is looking for counselors to join his staff. The change is exciting, he said.

"This is our way of giving back to the community," Bassett-Powell explained.

The Small Business Development center shifted its focus last year and, in 2010 alone, assisted 58 businesses with expansions, Harper said. That's a sharp increase from previous years, since the center assisted with 101 expansions between 2000 and 2009.

The center, an outreach of the University of Houston-Victoria, helps businesses with a variety of topics, from efficiency to product flow, green energy audits and more. It serves an 11-county region.

"It's not just about business training any more ... It's become much more complex than that," Harper said.